Reviews – Poorer Than YouMoney management for my fellow broke millennials2017-12-09T01:02:08Zhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/PoorerThanYouWordPressStephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/?p=25752017-03-17T01:02:18Z2017-03-17T12:00:08ZDuring my pregnancy last year, I made it a point not to read too many pregnancy and baby books, thinking that the information overload and the contradictions between books would be good for no one. Instead, I read a choice few prenatal and parenting tomes that I thought would give me the most bang for […]

]]>During my pregnancy last year, I made it a point not to read too many pregnancy and baby books, thinking that the information overload and the contradictions between books would be good for no one. Instead, I read a choice few prenatal and parenting tomes that I thought would give me the most bang for my reading buck. For the huge financial implications that came with this major life change, I turned to Kimberly Palmer’s recent 2016 release, Smart Mom, Rich Mom: How to Build Wealth While Raising a Family.

The mom of two young children herself, Palmer is a U.S. News & World Report money writer. In this book, she shares what she’s learned from nine years of interviewing “Smart Moms” who are tackling the family finances and decision-making process. That’s the overarching question for this entire book: What is it that these Smart Moms have done to make good decisions and take care of their families to create a rich life?

Chapter by Chapter

Introduction: Into Motherhood

The book starts off strong by pointing out how many personal finance books have failed moms and women in general. Citing several different studies, Palmer points out that “being a mom is the single best predictor of financial ruin,” and yet, most personal finance books are targeted at men. And many of the ones that are targeted at women fall short of teaching the truly meaningful, useful tactics of finance, and instead get caught in a superficial trap. As Palmer puts it:

In most investing and personal finance books, moms get nary a shout-out, and in the books that are written for us, which you can spot from their gleaming pink colors, the focus tends to be on how to shop less or coupon harder. It’s insulting, really, when you start to think about it. Why do men get magazines and books on investing and getting rich while women get lectured on pinching pennies at the grocery store and cutting back on our shoe collections? (page 2)

This introduction had me singing Hallelujah, as Palmer promised to share secret strategies, tips, and advice gathered from numerous interviews with “smart moms who make financial decisions that lead to security and wealth for their families” in the chapters to follow.

Chapter 1: Save (And Spend) Like a Mother

As much as I appreciated the pun in the chapter title, this chapter rubbed me the wrong way. After all that talk in the introduction about how personal finance books for women talk down to us by pointing out how we can spend less and coupon better… the very first chapter is about how to spend less and coupon better?

Which is not to say there isn’t some good advice in this chapter. There’s a focus on cost-cutting measures that don’t waste a bunch of time (a losing proposition), and pointing out some smart budget-slashing tips to rein in the family finances. But the chapter really feels out of place right after the introduction that rails against this sort of thing. With sub-sections like “Smarter Shopping” and “Spending Bootcamp,” this chapter flirted with the same feel that other personal finance books for women give off: if only you would control your crazy shoe habit, estrogen queen!

It’s not that I disagree with advice like “maintain an ongoing shopping list of all the items you actually need to buy,” using RetailMeNot and Unroll.me, contacting customer service or writing a review when a company has failed to deliver, using credit responsibly, and making sure you save your savings in a high-yield FDIC-insured saving account. I’m pretty big into all of those things, in fact. It’s just that after going out of her way to make a point in the introduction about how this is the only type advice that most personal finance books seem to have for moms… this makes for a very surreal first chapter.

I wouldn’t throw this chapter out – not at all. I just wish I had time to go into the Amazon warehouses, rip this chapter out of each book, and staple it into the back as an appendix. I just don’t think it belongs front and center as Chapter #1, especially after the introduction that this book has.

Chapter 2: Owning It

This chapter is all about setting goals, making a game plan, and embracing your role as “chief financial officer” for your household. I really enjoyed doing the goal-setting exercise, and later talking over those goals with my husband. This was the first of many conversation starters in the book, which is definitely the real strength of this book: tactical activities that get the brain juices flowing and family conversations started.

Chapter 3: Timing is Everything

Kids are expensive, yo. And this chapter tackles the somewhat-sticky subject of putting off having children until we’re “financially ready” (which is a hard thing to determine – I don’t think anyone ever really feels financially ready for kids). This chapter mainly deals with the direct costs of having kids: housing, child care, furniture, clothing, etc. etc.. This chapter was of particular interest to me at the time I read the book (while pregnant), because it goes into how to estimate and prepare yourself for these costs.

Chapter 4: Like a Boss

The less-talked-about, but perhaps more impactful, cost of having children: lost wages. While Palmer dives into the harsh realities of being a working parent (or giving up work upon becoming a parent), she also serves up a treasure trove of tips and strategies from the Smart Moms she interviewed. The biggest takeaway from this chapter is that you need to find flexibility: either from your employer, from a new employer or career path, or through forging your own path (freelancing). Palmer goes a little bit into each of these things to help you figure out how to navigate this treacherous terrain.

This was another chapter that struck a real chord with me, as I was sitting there pregnant, about to take several months of unpaid maternity leave and then start working part-time/freelancing, and try to maintain a flexible schedule while taking care of my kiddo. I really appreciated this look into the months that lay ahead for me, and it gave me a few ideas and points to ponder. There’s not a lot of information out there from other sources – I feel like there’s a big “all-or-nothing” approach most of the time (ie. you either have a full time job with paid maternity leave and then you go back to work, or you become a stay-at-home mom), but here Palmer does a great job of displaying the whole spectrum and showing that really, most women adopt some degree of flexibility in their work in order to make it all work.

Chapter 5: Investing Mamas

A lot of people feel intimidated by investing – women especially, in my experience (and Palmer’s research, as well!). Honestly, I think that’s a product of the financial industry: they have an incentive to make investing seem daunting and complicated, so that everyone feels like they couldn’t possibly do it by themselves, and that you need to hire a professional.

This is one of the longer chapters in the book (but don’t worry – it’s not too long), and with good reason. Palmer gets into the benefits of investing for our families (and the risks of not doing so), how to get started if you’ve never done it before, how much to save/invest, the different types of investment accounts available (retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs, college savings accounts like 529s, etc.), and a little bit about choosing investments. The book is pretty light on that last part, though that’s common for personal finance books because once you start getting into the weeds on which investments to pick, you start making it a much longer book. (The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing is a good book that does go there, if you’re looking for that.)

There’s also a section in this chapter on “Love and Money,” which helpfully includes some questions to sit down and noodle over with your spouse or partner. These exercises are really my favorite parts of the book – my husband and I had a long discussion that was kicked off by these questions. It really made for an interesting Sunday afternoon conversation!

Chapter 6: Playing Defense

There’s a lot that can happen to a family, but the big two “D”s are perhaps the worst: death, and divorce. Not happy subjects, of course, but worse than these things happening is these things happening and you being completely unprepared for them.

We don’t have to dwell on it or be maudlin for long, but consider this: Women are far more likely than men to outlive their spouse by a factor of four to one. (page 111)

This is the chapter of the book that I’m the most grateful for, personally – because I’ve been slacking in this area. I haven’t been particularly prepared for this sort of total catastrophe, including my own inevitable death (cheery!). Especially with a baby on the way (and the major medical event that encompasses all that), I needed to make sure that my husband would be able to handle and access everything if something were to happen to me.

Plenty of tips and ideas in this chapter for how to organize paperwork and essential documents, review insurance policies, protect your digital legacy, learn from someone in your life who has gone through a death/divorce situation, and cultivate your own financial resilience.

Chapter 7: Stuck in the Middle

If you’ve heard of the “Sandwich Generation,” which describes people who are in a position to have to care for both children and aging parents at the same time, that’s what this chapter deals with. Though one of the shorter chapters of the book, this spurred the longest (ongoing) conversation in my household. It’s something we may well have to deal with in the future (with six parents between the two of us, thanks to divorces and remarriages). Out of everything in this book, this is the chapter that we’ll be going back to again and again for years to come.

Chapter 8: Model Moms

What sort of financial lessons are our children learning from us? Palmer refers to our kids as “little spies:”

Like highly trained CIA agents, our kids are studying us all the time – even when we think they’re distracted. Sometimes it’s shocking to hear them repeat our words back to us; sometimes it’s adorable. … For better or for worse, they are basing their own budding identities on what they see us do. (page 150)

Included in this chapter are 12 possible talking points to start discussions with your children in order to pass on smart money lessons to the next generation. Things like mistakes that you’ve personally made with money, how to use credit cards and bank accounts, and getting comfortable with retirement and investment concepts.

Right now my kid is still trying to grasp the concept of consonant sounds, but I enjoyed this chapter nonetheless – both as a look forward into how I might teach my own kids, and also as a bit of nostalgia about conversations with my own mother growing up. This chapter brought up some great memories of how my mom found those teachable moments while I was a kid, and often had me execute certain financial tasks in order to teach me: working the ATM to get cash for her, swiping her card at the grocery checkout, and completing shopping cart transactions when she would buy things online. Thanks for helping me learn to do these things myself, Mom!

There’s also a bit about allowances in this chapter, which started yet another conversation with my husband, about the money lessons we learned growing up, and how allowances were handled.

Chapter 9: Back to You

With kids in the house, everything seems very immediate. Where did that missing sock go? What’s for dinner? Oh crap, the laundry! But things will change, and there’s life after the kids grow up and become independent. This chapter gets into the “what to do next,” how to figure out what that is for you, and how to prepare yourself for it.

Obviously the “empty nest” stage is a long ways off for me, and for any other millennial readers, but there’s plenty in this chapter that can be done now, in order to be better prepared for that time. For example, there’s an entire section on cultivating your social media accounts and online presence so that they support your long-term goals.

Chapter 10: Returning to the Nest

Oh those pesky boomerang kids, coming back to the nest after they’d left it! Oh wait. I was one of those (briefly, during college and for a few months after). 26% of millennials now live with their parents, in fact. There are benefits and drawbacks to this situation, of course, and this chapter briefly deals with that, and with the general concept of how to help adult children find their footing.

In going through the book, my husband called out this section with a resounding “THIS!”:

Knowing that we are the templates by which our children and grandchildren start to shape their own lives raises the stakes – and makes it even more important that we are taking care of ourselves, the way we hope they take care of themselves one day. We’re setting up patterns that could last for generations. (page 196)

Epilogue: More Than Money

Palmer shares a very cute anecdote about her five-year-old daughter seeming to hold some strangely traditional views about bread-winning that sent her down a rabbit hole, researching how traditional gender roles and money have changed in the recent past. It’s a short and sweet epilogue, but of course as a feminist who minored in gender studies in college, I loved it.

Smart Mom, Rich Mom Handbook

In the back of the book, there is this series of templates, checklists, and to-do lists for implementing the ideas in the book. This is the section I spent the most time with, going through the conversation exercises with my husband, such as the family money goals questions.

There’s also a really nice nine-month plan that breaks down pretty much all of the action steps from the book chapters into manageable monthly tasks.

Good for Smart Dads, Too?

I thought that this was such a rich, tactical book that perhaps it might not just be for smart moms, but that dads might get a lot out of it, too. So as soon as I finished the book, I handed it off to my husband to give a read-through, as well.

This didn’t start out so well. My husband was even more put off by Chapter 1 than I was, finding some of the women-targeted analogies insulting (“Credit cards are like high school boyfriends” – page 23). I agreed that I found Chapter 1 to be the weakest chapter of the book, amounting to a roundup of good advice from frugality blogs, but I didn’t remember the rest of the book being written that way. At my urging, he continued on and quite liked most of the rest of the book. “Those analogies really tapered off after Chapter 1, and I enjoyed the book a lot after that. But, you have to get past that first chapter!” he says.

Yet another reason why I’d love to just take Chapter 1 and move it to the “Handbook” section at the end. It just doesn’t fit with the style or the “meatiness” of the following chapters, and that could put off some readers (you wouldn’t naturally realize that Chapter 1 is not representative of Chapters 2-10!).

Recommendations by Life Stage

Normally I sort out my recommendations for a book based on age (good for college students? 20-somethings? etc.), but for this book, it makes more sense to sort them based on your “mom” stage:

No kids yet but planning on having them, or currently pregnant: This book has a lot for you, including passages about planning for kids that only apply to you! Some of the later chapters about money conversations with your kids, planning for grandkids, what to do in retirement, and your kids returning to the nest – obviously those things won’t apply. Yet. But it would make for a good book to read now and keep on the shelf to reference back to, throughout your “mom lifetime.” Highly recommended.

No kids yet, not sure about having them: This book might be helpful to you, in that it goes over a lot of the challenges and planning you would face if you decide to have kids. However, there’s not a whole lot you can act on here if you aren’t sure that kids are actually in your future. Skip this book for now.

Mom with young kids: This book is meant for you! Especially if you are thinking of adding more kiddos to your brood, in which case, pretty much the entire book is relevant to your situation, now and later. (Which makes sense, as Palmer herself was in a position of having two young children at the time she wrote this.) Highly recommended.

Mom of teenagers: The second half of the book or so is meant for you, so there’s a lot here to work with. Obviously there are several chapters you might as well just skip over, since you’re past those stages. (Or just give ’em a good skimming.) Recommended.

Empty-nesters and grandmothers: Not sure how many of you are looking for book recommendations on a blog for millennials, but hi there! This book only has a tiny amount for you. But it might be a good thing to read and then pass along to your adult daughters. Not really recommended.

Dudes and Dads: My husband liked the book well enough, after he got past Chapter 1 (see above). Like me, his favorite part of it was all of the talking points for discussion between the two of us. But honestly, that happened without both of us reading the book. For better or for worse, this book is for ladies and doesn’t really reach across the gender aisle. Not that it claims to, of course.

]]>1Stephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/?p=22782017-01-24T21:43:43Z2017-01-24T21:36:20ZCan Amazon replace my favorite grocery store? As a one-car family with a brand new baby, I was keen to find out! I’ve checked out Amazon’s Prime Now 2-hour delivery, and the Amazon Fresh grocery delivery – now it’s time for their dry-goods-in-a-box service, Prime Pantry. Prime Pantry has been around a lot longer than […]

Can Amazon replace my favorite grocery store? As a one-car family with a brand new baby, I was keen to find out! I’ve checked out Amazon’s Prime Now 2-hour delivery, and the Amazon Fresh grocery delivery – now it’s time for their dry-goods-in-a-box service, Prime Pantry.

Prime Pantry has been around a lot longer than Amazon’s other grocery offerings. It’s also the only one that’s available to all Prime members – not just people who live in certain areas. Despite all that, this is the first time I’ve actually ordered anything from Prime Pantry. But I got a $5 off Prime Pantry promo from selecting the “No Rush” shipping on a previous Amazon Prime order, so I figured… why not?

What is Prime Pantry?

Amazon says:

Prime members can shop for groceries and household products in everyday package sizes (for example, a single box of cereal) with Prime Pantry. Prime Pantry allows Amazon to expand its selection and offer thousands of items to Prime Members that are cost prohibitive to ship for free individually.

Prime Pantry provides vast selection, exclusive savings, and convenience. You can purchase groceries and household items in everyday sizes, as opposed to bulk sizes, online or using the Amazon.com mobile apps, and have these items delivered to your doorstep, saving you a trip to the store and giving you some time back in your busy life. Prime Pantry also provides great value with Weekly Deals and Coupons.

My take? Prime Pantry is a $5.99 box, that you can fill with any number of non-perishable food items or drugstore-type items, and the shipping cost will remain just $5.99 as long as everything fits in the box. You don’t need to 100% fill the Prime Pantry box – that’s a misconception I had before I looked closer at the service. However, your brain will trick you into thinking that you do, just to justify the shipping charge.

Amazon does give you a way to escape the $5.99 shipping fee, though: simply put 5 items in your Prime Pantry box from their list of “qualifying items.” With 5 of those special items in your Prime Pantry box, the shipping fee is waived. This is a pretty obvious trick to get you scrolling through seemingly endless slider bars of “Household Cleaning,” “Snacks,” “Skin and Body Care” etc., hoping to find 5 things that you actually want/need.

So why did I use Prime Pantry at all? Was it the siren call of the $5 off promotion? No. The real reason is that Prime Pantry has some items that you can’t get anywhere else on Amazon, or are ridiculously overpriced elsewhere on Amazon. My downfall was that my husband wanted some Cheerios. They had mysteriously disappeared from Amazon Fresh the week that we needed them, but Prime Pantry had them! Same story for the roll of Reynold’s Wrap aluminum foil that literally disappeared right out of my Amazon Fresh cart. And there was a drugstore purchase I needed that – you guessed it – wasn’t on Amazon Fresh or Prime Now.

So, did I order the Cheerios and aluminum foil, get my $5 off, eat the $5.99 shipping charge, and not get sucked in to trying to put 5 qualifying free shipping items in my Prime Pantry box?

My Prime Pantry Haul

Dangit! Who put all this other stuff in my Prime Pantry box?!?

Okay, yes. I knew exactly what tricks Amazon was playing on me: the percentage counter for how “full” my box was (don’t want to waste any space!), the 1-2-3-4-5 counter for how many free shipping items I had added to my order, the pages of related items… and yet, I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

So… did I at least save some money? Here’s how my Prime Pantry order stacked up against the prices from my usual (and favorite) grocery store, Wegmans:

So the totals ended up being pretty similar, but only because of both the No Rush Credit and the Free Shipping promo. Plus, I bought several things I didn’t necessarily need. I wasn’t out of Nutri-Grain bars or toothpaste at the time – I just thought to stock up on them for the free shipping. I might not have bought the instant coffee at all – it had been a passing thought that I could stop being jealous of my husband’s delicious coffee smell in the mornings. And the baby teether keys? Those aren’t available at Wegmans, and I only bought them for the free shipping. (Not that I won’t, you know, let my kid play with them now that I own them.)

So honestly, the only things I was on there to buy were the drug, the aluminum foil, and the Cheerios. If I had just gotten those and paid the shipping charge, the total would have been $34.99 ($29.99 after the No Rush Credit), vs. $23.15 at Wegmans. This shows that it’s worth it to buy five of the Free Shipping eligible items… if you can find five things you actually need in there. Or in my case, 5 things I can use, 3 of which I will eventually need.

What I Liked about Prime Pantry

You may note that in my previous Amazon grocery reviews, this section was called “What I love about…” But I don’t have a lot of love for Prime Pantry. Still, here are the few benefits I did notice:

Items that are not available elsewhere on Amazon, or aren’t available in a regular household size or for a decent price.

Arrives in a very sturdy box with handles – which I immediately reused to pack up old clothes to take to a donation facility.

Available to all Prime members, so you could get some household staples delivered to a remote area, if you need to.

What I Didn’t Like / Thought Could Be Better

The $5.99 shipping fee, of course.

Little tricks to get you to shop more (free shipping with qualifying items that are laid out to take a while to rifle through, percentage counters, etc.) mean that the time savings from shopping on Amazon instead of just going to the store is practically lost.

Shipping is slower – 3 days instead of Prime’s usual 2-day shipping.

The fact that some items are only available through Prime Pantry, forcing you to use the service and pay the shipping fee (or find 5 free-shipping-qualifying items) to get stuff you need.

Maybe this isn’t Amazon’s fault… but that decaf instant coffee I bought is totally gross

Will I Use Prime Pantry Again?

Probably not. The $5 off promo I got seems like it ended up being more work than it was worth. If all I need are Cheerios, aluminum foil, and something from the drug aisle, there are better ways to get those things. Faster ways, that cost about the same – such as asking my husband to grab them from the grocery store near work, or stocking up on them during my monthly trip to a physical grocery store.

That may change if I ever move back to a rural area, of course. I can see how the service would have been marginally more useful back when I was living in the middle of nowhere. But living in the suburbs, with a Wegmans just a 10 minute drive away? Prime Pantry just doesn’t compare.

This has been a 3-part series of reviews for Amazon’s grocery delivery services. Be sure to check out my reviews for Amazon Fresh and Prime Now as well! And there’s one more Amazon grocery delivery service that I use, but haven’t reviewed: Subscribe & Save. If you’ve enjoyed my reviews and would like me to tackle Subscribe & Save as well, let me know in the comments below!

Have you used Amazon Prime Pantry? If you love the service, I’d love to hear about your experience! Hate it? Never used it? Let me know, below!

]]>10Stephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/?p=22762017-04-01T18:25:22Z2017-01-19T17:26:34ZI just had a baby, my husband and I only have one car, and frankly, I’m kinda lazy. So I love the idea of Amazon bringing me all of my groceries. Can Amazon make my dreams come true and possibly even live up to the standard set by my favorite grocery store (Wegmans #ForTheWin)? To […]

I just had a baby, my husband and I only have one car, and frankly, I’m kinda lazy. So I love the idea of Amazon bringing me all of my groceries. Can Amazon make my dreams come true and possibly even live up to the standard set by my favorite grocery store (Wegmans #ForTheWin)?

To find out, I’m trying out all three of Amazon’s grocery delivery services. Earlier, I gave you my Prime Now review, testing out their 2-hour delivery service that included limited groceries. Today, I’m taking a look at Amazon Fresh: their more robust grocery offering, which comes with a $14.99/month fee.

What is Amazon Fresh?

Amazon’s description:

Amazon Fresh is Amazon’s grocery delivery business, offering fresh foods, locally-sourced products and Amazon.com items for same-day delivery. Operating in five regions, we give customers access to a diverse selection of items while simplifying their lives.

My take on it: Amazon is trying to create a true grocery delivery service with Amazon Fresh. They’re attempting to have the full stock of a real grocery store available. And they’re doing everything they can to make it as convenient as possible, so you’ll get in the habit of using it.

Unlike Prime Now (where the products are delivered in Amazon-branded paper grocery bags), Amazon Fresh deliveries are left on your doorstep in slick-looking sturdy Amazon Fresh totes (pictured above). The cold stuff is all packed together with extra insulation and a few ice packs to keep it cold. They just ask that you put the totes outside your door for the next delivery so they can take them back and reuse them!

The Magic Dash Wand

One of the really neat things they’re doing with Amazon Fresh is the Dash Wand. This handy little device has a barcode scanner, a microphone, and a wi-fi connection on it.

Ah yes, just what I need – MORE ramen noodles.

All you need to do is hold down the button on it, and then either scan the barcode of a product or say the name (e.g. “apples” or “butter” or “an 18-gallon jug of maple syrup”), and it will be added to your Amazon Fresh cart. If it’s not available on Amazon Fresh, it will add it to your regular Amazon cart. If the Dash Wand isn’t sure which brand of 18-gallon maple syrup jug you prefer, it will put a little prompt in your cart, asking you to choose:

You can even click the little speaker icon in your cart, so you can hear yourself asking for things (creepy!). But as one of the question answerers on the Amazon page pointed out, this is useful if you have multiple people in your household, and someone keeps adding cookies and ice cream to the list, and you need to identify the culprit. (In my case, it would be me. But maybe you can discover a sleepwalking and sleep-Amazon-shopping problem you didn’t know you had?)

Because it will add things to your regular Amazon cart, and not just to your Amazon Fresh cart, this is actually a very handy little device to have in the house even if you don’t use Amazon Fresh. (And it’s magnetic, so you can keep on the fridge!)

But, if you do decide to try out Amazon Fresh, there’s an added bonus with the Dash Wand: right now, Amazon is selling the Dash Wand for only $10 to Amazon Fresh customers… AND they’re giving out a $20 promotional credit when you order the Dash Wand. So, it’s on sale to Fresh customer for negative $10. (Currently, Amazon says this offer is valid through January 31st, 2017. But when I ordered my Dash Wand in December, it said it was only good through the end of that month, and then they extended it. Check the Amazon Dash Wand page to see the current offer.)

My Amazon Fresh Haul

This was actually my second Amazon Fresh delivery – the first order included the Dash Wand (of course). I signed up for Amazon Fresh under a promo that gives us a 30-day free trial (forgoing the $14.99 fee for the month). Again, check the Amazon Fresh website for the current promotion details.

So here’s my order, and how it compares to the prices at my usual (and favorite) grocery store, Wegmans:

The above total does not include the $20.00 discount for the Dash Wand promotion, so my total paid that day was actually $33.73 before tax!

Now, if you read the above chart carefully… you might have noticed some weirdness. Let me explain my order and my methodology for the Wegmans equivalents:

The Amazon Fresh avocados were on special (a “Fresh Deal“): 1 cent for 4!

The tortillas were free because they ran out of the ones I had ordered – Sundried Tomato Basil ones – so they substituted plain ones and refunded the price! They were $3.47 when I placed the order.

Strange that I could get local honey on Amazon Fresh, but not at my local Wegmans! So I just left it in the Wegmans one at the same price because I would have bought it somewhere – farmers market, maybe?

Generally, I tried to find the equivalent whole product I would have bought from Wegmans, but in a few cases where the quantity/size was vastly different, I calculated out the adjusted price on the Wegmans side.

What I really wanted was some Cup Noodles Chicken Flavor, but Amazon Fresh only seemed to have Beef Flavor… hence why I ended up ordering that, and also 3 things of Maruchan Roasted Chicken Flavor. Wegmans does have the Chicken Flavor cup noodles I would have bought… but no Maruchan (only Top Ramen). It’s a pity, really.

(The Cup Noodles are entirely the fault of Final Fantasy XV, by the way. Product placement works.)

Wegmans has coupons too – and theirs are in an app now! So I checked the app – none of the coupons this month would have applied to these items. Ah, well.

So, it was the nearly-free avocados and the coupons that made this order less than the Wegmans equivalent. But even so, the prices are actually comparable, which surprised me! Especially with the $20 Dash Wand promo on top of that, it was a great deal. If Amazon Fresh keeps up the coupons and “Fresh Deals,” the $14.99/month fee will actually be worth it.

Still, Amazon Fresh doesn’t completely eliminate my need to visit a local grocery store. Though they have a much more robust meat selection than Prime Now, it’s not as vast as I would like, and generally the meats are all much more expensive than Wegmans prices. A few examples:

Cheese is pricier too. Because Amazon Fresh lacks a generic option, you’re paying brand name prices. For that reason, my order above lacks a lot of meat and cheese, even though I ferociously eat both. Price-wise, it makes more sense to still do a monthly visit to Wegmans to stock up on meats and cheeses.

And then there’s the stuff that Amazon Fresh just doesn’t have. Like 20 Mule Team Borax, which I need for my laundry and dishwasher thanks to a hard water problem in my apartment. It’s available from Amazon Prime Now (a completely different service), or at a severe upcharge on Amazon Prime, but it’s not available to me from Amazon Fresh at this time. No french lentils on Amazon Fresh, either.

Things go out of stock regularly, too. I originally had some aluminum foil in this order, scanned with the Dash Wand, but it disappeared from the cart before the order was placed. I didn’t see an alert for that one, but with the husband and I both using the Amazon cart, it could have just been the fact that he didn’t notice the alert and clicked away from it. Later, I scanned a box of kosher salt with the wand, and it too went out of stock and out of the cart (though I saw the notice in the cart for that one). These items were both available from Prime Pantry, but that’s yet another service with a different Amazon checkout, and shipping charges.

I bought Cheerios in my first order, and then for my second order, they were nowhere to be found in Amazon Fresh’s inventory. Now, they’re the headlining item for the cereal category! So things go in and out of stock, sometimes really inconveniently. The worst part is how the Cheerios didn’t show up as “out of stock” on Amazon Fresh – they just disappeared from the search results.

What I Love About Amazon Fresh

It may sound like I’m being overly critical of Amazon Fresh, but in reality, there are quite a few things I like about the service:

The totes and delivery time frames make it super easy for me to do my grocery shopping without leaving the house or interacting with anyone. There are even really early morning deliveries available, which means I can get milk delivered before breakfast when I run out!

Shopping from home also means that you won’t mistakenly buy something you already have. Do I need more clementines? Oh, I can just look in the fridge right now and see!

Once you reserve a delivery time, you have an hour to check out (and keep your delivery time).

You can add items to the delivery after you check out, if you forgot something. That’s how those instant potatoes ended up in my order!

The Fresh Deals section has some fantastic deals, and makes it really easy to shop everything that’s on sale (unlike a physical grocery store).

All of the produce was indeed fresh, which is more than I can say for most of the non-Wegmans grocery stores in my area (hence why I usually only buy produce from Wegmans)

Everything about the Dash Wand. Even though an Amazon Echo can also add things to your cart with voice control, the Dash Wand has that cool barcode scanner. And at -$10 right now, the price is right!

Though it’s a separate cart from the rest of Amazon, it’s better integrated into Amazon’s site and app than Prime Now. The two shopping carts appear as tabs on the side of the browser screen, which works pretty well.

What I Didn’t Like / Thought Could Be Better

$14.99/month fee on top of the cost of a Prime membership makes this a pricey service if you don’t already have Prime for other reasons.

Some of the product names are so long that the size gets cut off. That makes it hard to compare prices. I bought a block of mozzarella that was half the size I thought it was in my first order!

Limited, expensive meat selection. The seafood selection is even worse.

Some key (to me) items are missing, such as borax, french lentils, and certain spices. These items are available elsewhere on Amazon, but that’s a separate cart and order to place.

Stock problems plague the service. Hopefully this is just a part of the growing pains of a new service.

Will I Continue to Use Amazon Fresh Past the Free Trial?

Maybe. I’m still undecided. Before I ran the math on my order, I thought Prime Now was going to come out the winner. I was not expecting my Amazon Fresh order to be cheaper than Wegmans!

Of course, most of the reason my order ended up cheaper is that I avoided buying items that were grossly overpriced on Amazon Fresh (meat, cheese, etc.). Because of this, Amazon Fresh isn’t completely replacing my need to go to the grocery store, which is what I’d hoped for. So is it worth the $14.99/month fee to replace 3 out of 4 shopping trips?

My initial thought is that we’ll keep the service active… for now. While I have an infant at home to take care of, the convenience makes a lot of sense. Maybe when the kid is older and I can pop out of the house more easily (ha! is that a thing?), it won’t make as much sense any more – we’ll see. Also, if the Fresh Deals start to dry up and prices rise, I’ll cut and run.

This is Part 1 of a 3-part series on Amazon’s grocery delivery services. Be sure to also check out the Prime Now review and the Prime Pantry review (coming soon!)

What do you think of grocery delivery from Amazon? Is Amazon Fresh available in your area? If so, have you tried it? Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below!

]]>19Stephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/?p=20212017-01-20T01:46:37Z2017-01-16T13:00:23ZAmazon gets me. They know I hate driving, that I’m terrible at dealing with cashier small talk, and that I’m terrified of store associates asking “is there something I can help you with?” They’re more than happy to coddle me by delivering pretty much anything I want, straight to my door. And now, that even […]

Amazon gets me. They know I hate driving, that I’m terrible at dealing with cashier small talk, and that I’m terrified of store associates asking “is there something I can help you with?” They’re more than happy to coddle me by delivering pretty much anything I want, straight to my door. And now, that even includes groceries!

But grocery delivery has always been a difficult pitch for me. I live in a heavily suburban area, and there have always been online grocery delivery options available to me here. But, there’s something else here: the greatest grocery store in the history of grocery stores, Wegmans. If I have a Wegmans, I need no other grocery store. Except, Wegmans won’t yet deliver to me. So, is there room for Amazon to move in on Wegmans’ territory and steal my heart by allowing me to shop for groceries in my PJs?

Grocery delivery isn’t just about laziness for me. I actually have good reasons to look into such a service these days: my husband and I have just one car, so I can’t just pop out to the grocery store any time I want to. And now I’m transitioning into being a work-from-home mom, so it’s even harder to get to the grocery store.

Can grocery delivery save my household time and/or money? When it’s Amazon offering the service, I’m willing to give it a whirl and find out!

Amazon actually has three different grocery delivery services, and they are all only available to Prime members. I’ll review Amazon Fresh and Amazon Prime Pantry separately later – for now, we’ll just focus on the first of the three that I tried: Prime Now.

What is Prime Now?

According to Amazon:

Prime Now offers household items and essentials you need every day plus the best of Amazon, with FREE 2-hour delivery.

If you ask me, I’d say “It’s a smaller selection of Amazon items, plus some food, delivered today, and you have to tip the driver.” As the name implies, you have to be an Amazon Prime member to use the service, and it’s only available in certain areas.

I discovered the existence of Prime Now in my “market” (Northern Virginia) when I was on Amazon shopping for a cutting board. The particular cutting board I found said that I could have it the same day… with Prime Now.

With a baby on the way (at the time) and Amazon offering $10 off the first purchase with promo code 10PRIMENOW, I figured I’d go ahead and give it a shot. Since Amazon Prime Now requires a minimum order of $20, and the cutting board didn’t quite cost that much (thank goodness), I decided to try and accomplish as much of the week’s grocery shopping as possible on Prime Now.

Prime Now has a decent selection of groceries, including some fresh produce (I got baby carrots) and a limited selection of meats. The lack of meats is really what keeps it from being a viable complete grocery replacement for me. I’m just not a vegetarian by any means (and with my husband’s allergies to nuts, eggs, and legumes, we will never be a vegetarian family). But, I was still able to get a decent amount of what I would have gotten at the store, without leaving my apartment.

My Haul from Amazon Prime Now:

Here’s what I got:

And here’s how the order compares to my usual Wegmans prices for what I would have bought at Wegmans if I had gone there (you’ll see, I usually stick to the Wegmans brand products):

Prime Now Item

Price

Wegmans Item

Price

Applegate, Natural Mini Pork Pepperoni

$5.09

Wegmans Sliced Pepperoni, Italian Style

$2.39

Applegate, Natural Good Morning Bacon

$4.99

Wegmans Uncured Bacon, Applewood Smoked

$6.99

Organic Valley, Organic Whole Milk

$4.99

Wegmans Organic Vitamin D Milk

$3.99

Wild Planet Sardines, Wild, in Water

$2.69

Wild Planet Sardines, Wild, in Water

$2.69

Mission, 10 Inch Wraps Garden Spinach Herb

$2.69

Wegmans Spinach, Garlic & Pesto Tortillas

$2.79

Red Baron, Classic Pepperoni Pizza

$4.19

Red Baron, Classic Pepperoni Pizza

$3.99

Roland Roasted Edamame Light Salt

$2.29

Seapoint Farms Edamame, Dry Roasted, Sea Salt

$1.79

Microban Antimicrobial Cutting Board

$8.99

*Would have still ordered this product from Amazon

$8.99

California Pizza Kitchen, Thin Crust Pizza

$6.79

Wegmans Organic Thin Crust Spinach & Feta Pizza

$5.49

Organic Baby Carrots, 1 lb

$1.49

Wegmans Organic Carrots

$1.29

Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix, Buttermilk Complete

$3.09

Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix, Buttermilk Complete

$2.99

Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, 16 Oz

$0.79

Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, 16 Oz

$0.89

Horizon Organic Butter, Salted, 4 sticks

$6.09

Wegmans Organic Salted Butter Sweet Cream

$4.99

Tip

$5.00

Total (excluding tax):

$59.47

Total (excluding tax):

$49.27

These prices don’t reflect the $10 off coupon code, 10PRIMENOW.

With the coupon code, I ended up spending only 20 cents more than I would have at Wegmans for the same items, and everything was delivered right to my door by a friendly delivery woman! Since I was quite pregnant at the time, I was happy not to have to waddle around the store and lug the groceries in from my car!

I used Amazon Prime Now again a few weeks later, when suddenly both the HVAC unit and the living room blinds in my apartment broke at the same time. I had to work from home in order to be there to let contractors in to fix them. But of course, we were experiencing a weird heat wave at the time, and I couldn’t turn on the AC or adjust the blinds to keep the sun out of the window right next to my computer! I tried to swing by Lowe’s to buy a fan… but apparently they don’t sell those in October, even if there’s a heat wave. So what’s a sweaty pregnant woman who has to work from home to do?

For my second Prime Now order, I of course bought myself a little fan, and some regular groceries that we were out of (including a monster package of Charmin toilet paper, for my upcoming postpartum needs), and again, it was delivered within 2 hours. Ah, the sweet relief of a fan and soft toilet paper!

You can adjust your tip amount any time during the 48 hours after delivery. So you can tip more for great friendly service, or adjust it down if you were disappointed.

What I Didn’t Like / Thought Could Be Better

Selection could be wider – where’s the meat? They also lacked a certain drugstore item that I would have liked to get within 2 hours.

It’s a separate website and app from Amazon. Who needs this many apps? My phone came with like 4 Amazon apps preinstalled (Shopping, Kindle, Audible, Amazon App Store…), who needs another Amazon app on their phone?

The $20 minimum and the tip encourage you to spend more (to get a better deal)

Would I Shop Prime Now Again?

Sure! The “pros” definitely outweigh the “cons,” and the price is right. It can’t completely replace my Wegmans trips (because of the lack of meat), but it could potentially reduce my number of grocery trips to once or twice a month, just to stock up on meats and things.

The biggest problem is that because it’s a separate website, I kinda forget about Amazon Prime Now. We just end up going to the grocery store when we need stuff, instead of remembering to check and see if something’s available on Prime Now.

I’ve also been checking out Amazon’s other grocery delivery options: Amazon Fresh and Prime Pantry. I’m going to review those shortly, but it’s worth mentioning now that having the three different services compounds the “I kinda forget Prime Now even exists” and “too many apps!” problems.

This is Part 1 of a 3-part series on Amazon’s grocery delivery services. Be sure to also check out the Amazon Fresh review and the Prime Pantry review (coming soon!)

What do you think of 2-hour delivery of groceries and goodies from Amazon? Is Prime Now available in your area? If so, have you tried it? Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below!

]]>3Stephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/2009/09/17/review-the-new-rules-for-mortgages/2015-01-04T23:01:02Z2009-09-17T15:11:40ZThe New Rules for Mortgages by Dale Robyn Siegel In the wake of the subprime mortgage meltdown and ensuing economic crisis, it’s no secret that the rules for buying a home and getting a mortgage have changed. But it might be hard to get a straight answer from someone on just how those rules have […]

In the wake of the subprime mortgage meltdown and ensuing economic crisis, it’s no secret that the rules for buying a home and getting a mortgage have changed. But it might be hard to get a straight answer from someone on just how those rules have changed. Unless that someone is Dale Robyn Siegel, attorney and licensed mortgage broker! Ms. Siegel has been in the real estate industry for 20 years, and has decided to lend her knowledge to the public in her book, The New Rules for Mortgages.

Chapters 1-3: What You’ll Need

The first three chapters focus on the three major things that you’ll need before you can get a mortgage:

A good credit score

Income

A down payment

These three chapters are especially useful if you’re a college student or 20-something interested in buying a home a few years down the line. The sooner you act on establishing and improving your credit score, the better off you’ll be. The book covers everything you could possibly need to know about credit scores and how yours will affect your ability to take out a mortgage, and the interest rate you’ll receive.

The income and down payment chapters, like the rest of the book, are incredibly detailed. Unlike some mortgage books, which assume you have a 9-5 steady job, this one covers every income scenario under the sun. As someone who makes her income from self-employment and freelancing, I found this chapter immensely refreshing and helpful!

I never knew there were so many sources you could have for your down payment, or all of the rules associated with them, until I read the third chapter. This book is really designed to cover a wide range of scenarios, and not leave anyone in the dark about their mortgage process.

Chapters 4-6: Prepping For A Loan

Chapter 4 covers the part that most people actually like about home buying, and spend the most time on: shopping for the property you want to buy! Since what you need will be specific to your situation, this chapter mainly focuses on pitfalls to avoid (like illegal apartments) and what needs to be done for appraisals. It’s one of the shorter chapters in the book (although no chapter is exceedingly long).

Once you’re ready to start shopping for a loan, Siegel guides you through the different places to start that process. As a mortgage broker herself, she clearly favors mortgage brokers. She backs that up with sound reasoning (mortgage brokers can help you not get locked into just one loan with one bank), it’s important to keep in mind that this particular piece of advice is naturally biased.

Chapters 7 and 8: Getting Your Loan

These two chapters walk you through the actual process of filling out the paperwork and, finally, closing on a mortgage. They’re pretty straight forward step-by-step chapters that point out the pitfalls, as well. As you might expect, there are a lot of pitfalls to avoid throughout the whole process! There are a few helpful hints thrown into these chapters as well, such as what to do if you buy a house in the winter and can’t check on the air conditioning or swimming pool.

Chapters 9-11: Standalone

Each of the three chapters at the end of the book are sort of miscellenous topics. Though important, it’s hard to categorize them as any one thing. Chapter 9 covers the huge range of property types. Again, this book refuses to make the assumption that you’re a 9-5 worker buying a standard house. Although it’s helpful if you are, there’s plenty in here for everyone else. There’s even a bit on “log homes,” which hit me right in the heart, because I grew up in a log home! There’s also quite a bit in this chapter about co-ops and condos.

Though not cheery, the topics of Chapter 10, Protecting Your Home Ownership: Divorce, Dispute, and Death must be handled. Failure to heed the advice in this chapter can lead to disaster down the road. Losing one’s home occurs with terrifying regularity in this country, so this chapter is especially important. Those of us who are still young sometimes believe these types of things will never happen to us — but we would be wrong about that!

The final chapter offers a few hints and tips for life as a homeowner: insuring the house, building equity, maintaining the property, and possibly refinancing. It’s a bit of an abrupt ending, but if you’ve made it this far, do you really want to just keep reading about mortgages?

Criticisms

Although I liked the book overall, I have just a few reservations about it. It’s rather short, which is fine if it’s just the first book you read about home ownership and mortgages. It’s a great starter book for young people who hope to be homeowners at some point. But it probably shouldn’t be the only book you ever read before buying a home.

Additionally, I found a few factual inaccuracies in the book. On page 27 in Chapter 1 the different ways to obtain a free credit report are listed, but http://www.annualcreditreport.com isn’t really covered. It’s mentioned, but the book inaccurately states that you can only get your Experian report from there, and that you’ll have to enter credit card information and cancel a service. Actually, you can get all three credit reports from that site, for free, without ever entering any credit card information or signing up for any services.

The other inaccuracy I found was on page 55 in Chapter 3, which stated that Roth IRAs are “pre-tax” retirement accounts, and there will be taxes and penalties for taking money out before age 59[1/2]. That would be accurate if it said “Traditional IRAs,” but is not true for Roths. Roth IRAs are “post-tax,” and you can take out any of your contributions without tax or penalty.

I should note that I received a “uncorrected proof” for review purposes, so these inaccuracies may actually be corrected in the final print of the book. Additionally, I feel these are just small errors in an otherwise good book.

Recommendations by Age Group

College Students: The book may be a little much if you’re just starting out with personal finance. But if you’re dedicated to the idea of owning property in the future, it’s a good read. The first three chapters will be of the most help to you. Recommended for some.

20-Somethings: As soon as the idea of home ownership starts rattling around in your head, it’s a good idea to start reading books like this one! Recommended.

30-Somethings and Beyond: If you aren’t yet a homeowner, this book will be very helpful in getting you there. But it’s going to be a lot of repeat information if you have already been through the mortgage process before. Although the book is called The New Rules…, you’d find yourself skimming a lot to find those “new rules” for mortgages. Recommended for new home buyers.

]]>4Stephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/2009/09/10/review-secrets-of-a-stingy-scoundrel/2015-01-04T23:01:03Z2009-09-10T16:07:52ZSecrets of a Stingy Scoundrel 100 Dirty Little Money-Grubbing Secrets By Phil Villarreal Because I write about personal finance on ye olde Internets, and I did that thing where I didn’t buy anything new for a year, I often find myself struggling to maintain the lifestyle that is “frugal” without crossing over and becoming simply […]

Because I write about personal finance on ye olde Internets, and I did that thing where I didn’t buy anything new for a year, I often find myself struggling to maintain the lifestyle that is “frugal” without crossing over and becoming simply “cheap.” However, that’s only one perspective on how to live: Phil Villerreal will tell you in Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel to skip right past Frugal, Cheap, Go and yes, do collect your $200. (Though he also advises staying out of jail, as well.)

While the tips range in stinginess and ridiculousness (with the last chapter obviously winning in both categories), the book is truly funny throughout. Just ask my boyfriend, who had to endure my giggles and donkey-braying as I read the book. (But don’t ask my boyfriend if he thinks the book is funny – he’s such a tightwad that he just thinks the book is accurate.)

Is there advice (if you want to call anything in this book “advice”) that I disagree with? Absolutely. Most of it, actually. There are even several things I’ve previously discouraged on this very website. For example, the very first tip in the book, signing up for credit cards just to get the freebie t-shirts and frisbees? Yeah, don’t do that. Even if you give them fake information (which you shouldn’t) if you give them enough information to identify you, they might actually pull your credit report and that’ll ding your credit score.

Still, if you can take every word in this book with a grain of salt, there are numerous gems hidden inside it. In the aforementioned “free t-shirts from credit card companies” tip, there’s a bit about how useful t-shirts can be as “carwash towels, dishcloths, flag football flags, spaghetti strainers, lampshades, and do-rags.” Good plans for old t-shirts you don’t wear anymore!

So there are quite a few good ideas, hidden amongst the suggestion to not tip and the dubious medical advice (Cinnamon Toast Crunch as a headache cure!?! As much as I disbelieve, I also know that I’m going to get some and try). But the main benefit of the book is that it’s wicked funny. Phil Villarreal is a hilariously snarky writer who I can’t quite do justice to in this review. You’ve really just got to read it.

Not ready to pony up the dough for a copy yet? Phil would be proud of your stinginess, but would also want your freakin’ money. You can get a free a taste of his snarky writing on similar topics by checking out his contributions to Consumerist. (Moocher.)

Recommendations by…?

Normally I do my recommendations based on age group: is this good for college students? 20-somethings? Infants? Those distinctions don’t really apply to Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel, so I’ll go with something else entirely: a one-question quiz:

Can you make the distinction between “clever idea!” and “haha, that’s funny, but I probably shouldn’t do it in real life?”

If no, good luck in your life’s endeavors. Try to steer clear of anything electrical.

If yes, consider this book Highly Recommended due to extreme hilarity.

]]>2Stephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/2009/09/03/review-a-million-bucks-by-30/2015-01-04T23:01:04Z2009-09-03T16:24:50ZA Million Bucks by 30 by Alan Corey First Impressions Might Be Deceiving I put off reading this book for a long time, because Alan Corey came across as a douchebag. Maybe it was the super-douchey picture of him on the cover (seriously, Alan, what’s up with that picture? I just watched a bunch of […]

First Impressions Might Be Deceiving

I put off reading this book for a long time, because Alan Corey came across as a douchebag. Maybe it was the super-douchey picture of him on the cover (seriously, Alan, what’s up with that picture? I just watched a bunch of videos of you on YouTube, and it doesn’t even look like you!). Or maybe at some point before reading the book, I picked up on the idea that “real estate” was involved, which always screams “DOUCHE!” to me. Whatever it was, it took me a long time to stop rolling my eyes long enough to actually read the book.

And in some ways, Alan is kinda a douche! Don’t worry, I’ll have lots of good things to say about him down below, but it should be noted that my first impression wasn’t entirely wrong: He’s been on five reality TV shows and one game show. He pulls some cheapskate moves that make me squirm, like refilling a “free refill” popcorn container indefinitely. And yes, “real estate” is involved in his story, and in New York City, no less! (I’m from upstate New York, so I have an instant rivalry with anyone downstate. It’s just how it is.)

Alan Corey’s Redemption

Alan Corey starts out by doing something I didn’t: he saves up a lot of money as a teenager, and goes to college without taking on any debt. In the quest for one million dollars, being at net worth $10,000 doesn’t sound too different from being at net worth -$38,500 (like me). In both cases, you’ve got a long way to get to a million smackers. But Alan’s got a big one-up on me here: having some savings and being debt-free allows him a great deal of flexibility. He can move where he wants and take whatever job he wants.

He lives like a broke college student: Because he’s making less than $50,000 in New York City, Alan has to live pretty frugally to survive. He gets an apartment in the projects (although he didn’t know at the time that’s where it was) and saves a ton of money by continuing to live a very college-like lifestyle. I can’t even begin to explain how super-frugal he is. Maybe Alan himself can shed some light on that for you, in this clip from “The Big Idea:”

The whole book is littered with tips on how to live super-frugally. It may not seem like much to save $10 by never buying yourself an umbrella, but Alan’s crazy frugality actually pays off for him. He saves up enough to get a down payment on buying his own apartment in a nicer place. He continues to live frugally, gets a roommate, and watches his savings grow.

He doesn’t resort to any “get rich quick” tactics: Although in the beginning of the book, he watches a lot of late night infomercials, he doesn’t fall for their schemes. He never orders one of their “Amazing Packets!!!” Instead, he decides that he will learn as much as possible and reads every personal finance book he can get his hands on.

When buying his first apartment, Alan takes his time and learns as much as he can about real estate. He doesn’t just dive into it after reading one vague book about flipping houses. He attends tons and tons of open houses, giving him a solid idea of what real estate should cost, and what other buyers are asking at open houses! He learns what neighborhoods are truly up-and-coming and will see an increase in property values.

It’s easy to criticize Alan: after all, he made his fortune from real estate during one of the biggest booms in history. And we’re all sore after that boom went bust: the subprime mortgage crisis and ensuing economic meltdown makes us cast an angry stink-eye at anyone who profited during that time. But I truly believe, from reading his book, that Alan wasn’t just some jerk flipping houses. He added true value to the properties he bought, including a full gut-renovation of a property that should have been condemned. He took a place that was unlivable an transformed it.

Overall, I like the book and I think it’s a good mix of “inspirational story” and solid “how-to” tips. No, it won’t teach you everything Alan Corey knows about investing and real estate. You’ll have to read as many personal finance and real estate books, and attend as many open houses as he did before you’ll be privy to that level of knowledge. But it’s a great story about how working hard and living frugally pays off.

So Alan, sorry I called you a douchebag. Your book is really quite good, and it’s refreshing to see someone who lived by their own rules make it as far as you have. And, I’ll be keeping an eye out to see if you show up on any more reality shows!

Recommendations by Age Group

High school and College: Alan’s example of how to save up and get through college for free is really great, and the rest of the book may just inspire you to make your own “million bucks by 30.” There’s some strong language in it, though, so just don’t let your parents read it. Recommended.

20-something: Alan serves up frugality tips mixed with a great story. You’re likely in a same or similar boat to Alan, so you’re going to get the most out of this book of anyone. Highly Recommended.

20-something or older with young children: Alan’s stories may inspire you, but with a family it could be much harder to implement some of his strategies (unless Junior really like ramen). For some people, reading this book may be discouraging and make you feel like you “missed the boat.” But if you can take joy in another’s successes, and are good at pulling out just the information that applies to you and using it, this book is Recommended.

]]>13Stephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/2009/08/11/review-hp-mini-110-10-inch-netbook/2015-01-04T23:01:42Z2009-08-11T14:00:00ZI have a crush on this computer. It’s so cute, and sometimes I think it’s even flirting with me! (And yes, my boyfriend is totally jealous.) Oh little 10-inch netbook, how I adore you! As a part of the Better Together giveaway, presented by HP and Ivy Worldwide, I’ve been loaned the same models of […]

]]>I have a crush on this computer. It’s so cute, and sometimes I think it’s even flirting with me! (And yes, my boyfriend is totally jealous.) Oh little 10-inch netbook, how I adore you!

As a part of the Better Together giveaway, presented by HP and Ivy Worldwide, I’ve been loaned the same models of the notebook and the netbook that I will be giving away next week. I’ll be using these laptops over the course of several months and offering you guys completely honest reviews about the value of these products.

This bundle is being billed as the perfect combination for students who need performance and screen space while in their dorm rooms, but are also looking for mobility so that they can work in class, in the cafeteria, in the library, etc.. My focus with this site is to help you spend your hard-earned money on things that are of value to you. So how well does this bundle live up to its claims, and is it really perfect for college students on the go?

Last week I gave you guys my review of the HP Pavilion dv6, so today I’ll cover the adorable 10-inch netbook.

In somewhat plainer terms: The screen is about 10 inches (measured diagonally), it’s got 1gig of system memory (RAM), a 160gig hard drive, a webcam, and wireless. You’ll notice that there’s no CD/DVD drive — that’s to save space.

Portability

The main function of this laptop it to be portable, and it excels at it. Weighing in at less than three pounds, I barely even noticed it was in my backpack! And it’s great for moving about. Even during the summer I’m constantly on the go, so this is perfect for me.

During the school year, I would literally run all over campus, all day. It was my job — to go from classroom to classroom, counting the number of occupants. This was a bit of a problem for me, because as a commuter student I needed to have my laptop on campus with me. Everyday I would have to rent a locker for my laptop in the library, and even then it didn’t fit real well in those lockers! The Mini would have been perfect though — light enough that I could have kept it in my backpack while working, and small enough to easily fit in the locker if I wanted.

The 6-cell battery helps a great deal with portability, as well. If you go to customize the laptop,Â you get the choice of a 3-cell or 6-cell battery. Using the 6-cell battery that HP sent me, I was able to run the computer off of battery power for 4 and a half hours before it warned me that battery power was down to 10%! That’s way better than my regular laptop, which has trouble lasting 2 hours on battery power.

Functionality

This laptop is built for portability, not speed or performance or anything else, really. But it gets the job done for most things. The keyboard is smaller, about 92% of the size of a regular laptop keyboard. My parents kept asking if it was hard to type because I have looooong fingers. When I first put my hands on the keys, it was an adjustment, but after about five minutes of surfing the web I was typing with my usual speed and accuracy.

The mouse is a little strange — the buttons are to the left and right of the touchpad, instead of below. This was also an adjustment, but I adapted pretty quickly. I actually like having the buttons where they are, because it means I won’t accidentally click the wrong one!

Even though it doesn’t have as much processing power or memory as the dv6, it still runs pretty well. I haven’t noticed any lag at all, even when broadcasting video over the internet from the laptop. Things load fairly quickly, and its certainly faster than my old laptop in waking back up from hibernation.

Webcam

Some other reviewers have reported that they don’t like the webcam on the Mini — that it gives a lower quality image. I didn’t notice anything like that when I tested the webcam myself. And I tested it by setting up a Tokbox chat with both computers and other people in the chat room to give me feedback on the two images. The live feeds broadcasting from the Mini and the dv6 were nearly identical.

Neither was super-high quality (you won’t be winning any Oscars for cinematography!), but each is good enough for long-distance video chat or secretly filming your roommate doing something embarrassing!

Look and Feel

The Mini comes in three colors: swirl black, swirl pink chic, and swirl white. The model I was sent was the swirl white, and I like it quite a lot. It’s got a shiny white lid with a neat pattern on it. The keyboard and surrounding plastic is more of a matte white, which is good because it doesn’t show fingerprints or anything (unlike the dv6). The touchpad is also white.

If you get the 6-cell battery, it juts out from the bottom of the computer. This is actually soft of good, because it props up the computer a little when you have it on a table, making it easier to use.

Odds and Ends

The Mini has an on-switch that seems specifically designed so that the thing won’t turn on in your backpack, even if the lid comes open (nice!). Most of the other functions are controlled not by switches, but by function keys. I prefer this for the volume control, as opposed to the dv6’s touch-sensitive volume control.

There are three USB ports, so you’ll have no trouble plugging in a thumb drive, a mouse, or even an external DVD drive, all at once! There’s a five-in-one card reader, which is great for getting pictures off an SD card. It’s also good if you want to expand the Mini’s 160gb of hard drive space. There’s an ethernet port for if your dorm, like mine, still has you tethered to the wall instead of using wireless. And there’s a VGA port, which is great if you want to use an external monitor instead of the Mini’s 10-inch screen, or if you want to hook it up to a projector to show a presentation in class.

Value

I’m a pretty big fan of this little computer! (Could you tell?) Selling for about $350, it’s not the cheapest netbook on the block, though. And I haven’t tested any other netbooks to tell you how it compares. But I’m quite taken with it, and it’s just the type of computer I would buy for my hectic on-the-go lifestyle. Especially if I were buying it as a compliment to a more powerful computer to stay on my desk at home. For highly mobile college students, I give the HP Mini 110 my stamp of Recommended.

Special Offer

Do you want a Mini of your very own? Well, you can stick around for a little while and try to win one when I do my giveaway on August 18th (and I sincerely hope you do). But if you’re a pragmatist that needs a computer for school, and can’t wait around to see whether you win one or not, HP’s got you covered. As a part of this whole Better Together promotion, they’re also offering really special deals to the readers of the sites involved (that’s you).

Each offer is different and for a limited time only. Here’s the current offer:

Offer valid only August 13-15

Get $500 off on a bundle of the HP HDX 18T Premium laptop + HP mini 110 XP netbook

Valid for HP Home & Home Office (www.hpshopping.com) internet and call center purchases only. Coupon valid on first 100 redemptions, or while supplies last. Any unused portion will be forfeited. Each coupon code is limited to one usage per customer; one coupon code per checkout. Offer void where prohibited, taxed or restricted by law. Non-transferable. Not valid retroactively on previously purchased items. Not valid for any resale activity as defined by HP Home & Home Office Store. Coupons may not be used to purchase gift cards. Not valid on clearance sales. May not be permitted with certain bundle offers. Not valid on: Academic and Employee purchase programs, HP Employee purchase program, Refurbished products, Extended Service Plans. For complete coupon conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com.

]]>19Stephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/2009/08/06/review-hp-pavilion-dv6/2016-04-23T15:45:44Z2009-08-06T14:46:30ZAs a part of the Better Together giveaway, presented by HP and Ivy Worldwide, I’ve been loaned the same models of the notebook and the netbook that I will be giving away in about two weeks. I’ll be using these laptops over the course of several months and offering you guys completely honest reviews about […]

]]>As a part of the Better Together giveaway, presented by HP and Ivy Worldwide, I’ve been loaned the same models of the notebook and the netbook that I will be giving away in about two weeks. I’ll be using these laptops over the course of several months and offering you guys completely honest reviews about the value of these products.

This bundle is being billed as the perfect combination for students who need performance and screen space while in their dorm rooms, but are also looking for mobility so that they can work in class, in the cafeteria, in the library, etc.. My focus with this site is to help you spend your hard earned money on things that are of value to you. So how well does this bundle live up to its claims, and is it really perfect for college students on the go?

I’m going to take a look at each machine separately, so today we’re going to cover the larger notebook, as opposed to the smaller “netbook.”

If you’re like me, only about half of that made sense to you. Here’s how it breaks down: this notebook has a 16” (diagonally measured) widescreen display, a Core2 Duo Processor, Windows Vista, a very nice graphics card with 1gig of dedicated memory, 4gigs of system memory (RAM), a 500gig hard drive, a Blu-Ray player that can also play and write DVDs (and can make labels for certain DVDs), a built-in webcam and microphone, wireless card, a battery (of course) and a one-year warranty.

Processing Power and Graphics

I’m not a huge gamer — or at least, I’m not a variety gamer. I tend to pick one game and obsessively stick to it. Since 2004, that game has been The Sims 2 and it’s gazillion expansions. Make fun of me all you like, but this game takes a lot of processing power and an advanced graphics card to run. Combine that with my general obsession with the game, and it seemed the perfect test subject for this computer.

Did the game run perfectly on this computer? No. Some of the cut-scene animations were still a little jumpy, which I think is an indictment of the game more than anything else. But other than that, I’ve never seen this game run so smooth before. I cranked all of the graphics settings as high as they would go (which is something that would send my desktop screaming to a halt), but the dv6 didn’t flinch.

So I loaded up a 16-room college dorm from the University expansion pack — arguably the most intensive part of the game. You’ve got about 17 or so autonomous little people running around, doing their own thing, while you control your characters. Even on the most intense lot of the game, with all of the graphics turned all the way up, the dv6 took it like a champ. I was able to zip around from floor to floor in the dorm with no lag time — an action that normally slows the whole game down on my desktop (without the graphic cranked!).

Conclusion: The dv6 took everything I could throw at it, gaming-wise. It may not be enough for the most dedicated of gamers, but they’re probably not in the market for a notebook, anyway.

Blu-Ray Player and HDMI Output

I couldn’t resist renting one of my favorite movies, Serenity, on Blu-Ray to test out the dv6’s Blu-Ray player. I wanted to really push it to the edge, so in addition to watching the special-effects-heavy movie, I turned on the picture-in-picture cast and director commentary. The computer handled was handling the movie just fine, even with the picture-in-picture turned on, so I decided to push it even more. I grabbed an HDMI cable and hooked that thing up to my parents’ 42” HDTV.

The computer was able to output beautifully to the TV, still with the picture-in-picture on. Getting it to display on the TV was a cinch thanks to Vista, and the media remote that comes with the dv6 let me relax on the couch and control the movie from afar.

Conclusion: If your college experience is anything like mine, you’ll be watching a lot of movies in your dorm with your friends, and sometimes hooking your player up to larger TVs to watch with a larger group. The screen size and Blu-Ray player of the dv6 will more than handle the first task, and the HDMI output will be a really benefit for the second.

Webcam

To put the thing to rigorous testing, I held webcam chats with two free services: TokBox and Skype. TokBox lets you hold a multi-camera chat over the internet, and at the high point of our chat, we had four webcams and two people with just microphones. The webcam wasn’t great — we’ve had better quality with an external USB webcam. But for a built-in webcam, it worked quite well. The quality of the picture was nearly identical to that of the built-in webcam on my boyfriend’s MacBook. We had similar results with Skype, which only allows two people to connect with webcams.

Conclusion: You won’t be making any high-quality films with this webcam, but it works just fine if you’re hoping to snap a quick picture or video-chat with friends and family.

Look and Feel

The model that HP loaned me is the “Moonlight White” color, which comes with a cool sort of waves and dots design on the shell. It’s not a stark white, but more of an iridescent pearl color, which is very attractive. Still, there are some things I don’t like about it. Because it has a smooth and shiny finish, it shows fingerprints really well, which is a bummer since, presumably, you’re going to be touching your notebook! The touchpad is a shiny silver that, although it works well, also shows fingerprints (even more so than the case).

The keyboard is comfortable, I’ve not go complaints there, even after several hours of writing. The volume and wireless are controlled by “touch media controls” instead of buttons or rockers. Honestly, I don’t care too much for these — the touch controls didn’t respond while I was loading a game, so when the sound was up too loud during the load screen of The Sims 2, there was nothing I could do about it except throw my hands over the speakers!

Conclusion: It’s an attractive computer right out of the box, but it will take some careful maintenance to keep it looking good as you use it. (HP provides a cloth for wiping down the surface.) And I don’t suggest the Moonlight White if you’ve got pets —I’m constantly brushing away the very visible hair from my black cat and black Labrador!

Odds and Ends

I already mentioned the HDMI output and the remote that comes with the system. In addition there’s:

I’ll come back to software in a later review, because I haven’t fully tested everything. But I will say that it only comes with a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office. Most students will want to purchase the Office upgrade when buying this machine. It also comes with a 60-day trial of Norton Anti-Virus, so you’ll want to either purchase the full version or get a different anti-virus program.

Value

Overall, I’m a fan of this computer. My family has always been fairly loyal to HP computers, so it probably comes as no surprise that I like this computer. It’s not perfect for every student, but the price is right for the vast majority of us. If you’re writing papers, playing a few games, surfing the internet, and watching movies (Blu-Ray, DVD, and online), this notebook will serve you well. For college students, I give it my stamp of Recommended.

]]>10Stephaniehttp://poorerthanyou.com/2009/03/30/review-paying-for-college-without-going-broke/2015-01-04T23:02:52Z2009-03-30T19:57:03ZPaying for College Without Going Broke: 2009 Edition by Kalman A. Chany (with Geoff Martz) – forward by former US President Bill Clinton Any book that can save you money on college costs seems like it should be worth its weight in gold. Does this book, published by the Princeton Review and the Clinton Foundation, […]

Any book that can save you money on college costs seems like it should be worth its weight in gold. Does this book, published by the Princeton Review and the Clinton Foundation, live up to that?

The forward by former President Bill Clinton is worth a read. It’s short (page and a half) and I actually learned a lot about him from it. Did you know that he was the first person in his family to go to college? And that it was his administration that created AmeriCorps?

Special message to first-generation college students and their parents:
This mini-chapter explains how college admissions should be a collaborative effort between parents and children, and the importance of being honest on financial aid forms. It also gets into dispelling financial aid myths, and how to decide if college is the best next-step.

Introduction:
Who gets the most aid? The people who understand the financial aid process. This chapter (and parts of the book) demonizes the FAO – Financial Aid Officer. This person is your opponent in the “war” to get as much aid as possible. Think of it like a chess match – you’re opposing forces, both governed by strict rules.

Part One: Understanding the Process

Chapter One: Overview
The basics of the FAFSA and determining “need.” The financial aid package and the three types of aid: grants (and scholarships), work-study, and loans. There’s a great suggestion here to have a “financial safety school.” There’s also a guide to the rest of the book, including a disclaimer that this is not about lying or cheating the system, but understanding it in order to take advantage and save money, while still following all of the rules.

Part Two: How to Take Control of the Process

Chapter Two: Long-Term Strategies for Paying for College
Basically, this chapter is “What to do if college is more than two years away.” Why save at all? How much money will you need (an examination into compound interest)?

Should money be put into the child’s name? Answer: “If you have any hope of financial aid, never put money in the child’s name.” Under the federal formula used by the FAFSA, parents are expected to use 5.65% of their assets to pay for their child’s college each year, but children’s assets are assessed at a whopping 20%! And once the money is in the child’s name, it’s extremely difficult to put it back under a parent’s name.
What if you’re fairly sure you won’t qualify for financial aid? Keep your money however you like, but be sure – there’s a worksheet in the back of the book to help you determine whether you really will qualify for aid, or not. And you might be surprised.

Finally, specifics on what to do if you have 15 years, 10 years, 5 years, or 2 years to go.

Chapter Three: Short-Term Strategies for Receiving More Financial Aid
Understanding the interplay between filing taxes and filling out the financial aid form. The most important concept here is the “base-year” – the tax year before the student enters college, which sets the tone for how much aid the student will receive. For example, if a student will start their freshman year in 2009, then the base year is tax year 2008. How taxes (for the parents, especially) are filed for 2008 will be critical in determining how much aid that student receives. There is also an explanation as to which assets will be looking at when calculating financial aid – in other words, where you should keep your money, and where you shouldn’t, for financial aid purposes.

Chapter Four: How to Pick Colleges
Two important things to think about in this chapter. First of all, there should be an open dialogue between parents and students about what college is going to cost, and what the family can afford. I never had this conversation, and now I have $42,000 in debt to shoulder because of it. I’m not blaming my parents, but rather showing how this is a very important thing to do to avoid a situation like mine. Secondly, you don’t really know what aid you’re going to get from a school until after you’ve applied to the school and applied for aid – some schools that are expensive on paper may give more attractive aid packages than public schools. There are a lot of factors that go into it, so applying to several schools is highly encouraged.

Chapter Five: What the Student Can Do
This chapter disappointed me immensely. As a student who was in full control of the entire college process (planning, applying, applying for aid, and paying the bills), I find it disheartening that this chapter is only six pages long. Students with situations similar to mine will have to “translate” the rest of the advice, meant for parents, into what they can personally do for themselves. But the obvious takeaway is that the financial aid process is skewed toward families where the parents are actively involved, and students will do a lot better if they can get their parents to read this book and act on the information. This chapter covers the obvious: get good grades, take AP classes, do well on the SATs, and consider alternatives, like starting at a cheaper school and transferring, taking a gap year, or going to school part-time.

Chapter Six: State Aid
Another short chapter, but this makes sense – the book would be enormous if it tried to cover the intricacies of each and every state aid program. But the main takeaway here is to pay attention to what aid is offered by your state – you may qualify even if you don’t qualify for any federal aid. There is a listing in this chapter of state agencies and their contact information.

Part Three: Filling Out the Standardized Forms
This part goes into what you should do to prepare for filling out financial aid forms, including what documents you’ll need and when you should file. The explanations, question by question, for the FAFSA and PROFILE are simply awesome. This can help to clear up questions you may have about the questions asked on these forms.

Part Four: The Offer
A guide-within-a-guide to understanding the different types of aid that colleges list on “offer letters.” This is very helpful, because this seems to be the second most confusing part of the aid process (#1 most confusing being those forms from the last section). This part also deals with negotiating the aid package, if you’re not offered enough.

Chapter Seven: Innovative Payment Options
This chapter probably isn’t what you think. The ideas listed here include: transferring in later (again), cooperative education (a big one at the college I went to), short-term prepayment, ROTC, outside scholarships (which account for less than 5% of the financial aid in the US), borrowing from retirement plans, loan forgiveness (usually in exchange for community service), moral obligation loans, and payment plans.

Chapter Eight: Managing Your Debt
From the process of picking a lender to how to pay off the loans once you have them. There’s a guide to different repayment plans, and a brief explanation on consolidation, loan discharge, and cancellation. This chapter is a little light, as well, but let’s face it – paying off student loans is a different topic entirely than paying for college in the first place. It’s information best left for another book.

Chapter Nine: Special Topics
Got a case of divorced or separated parents? The rules for that situation can make your head spin: blended families add a ton of dimension to the financial aid process. This book handles the details with grace – I’ve never seen such a good explanation of what to do when dealing with blended families in the financial aid process. Other “special topics” include: transfer and graduate students; aid for being academically gifted, an athlete, or a minority; running a business or a farm; recently unemployed workers; independent students; establishing state residency; early decision/action/notification/read; aid for older students; international students; foreign tax returns; study abroad programs; and (my favorite) a note to financial professionals insisting that they learn about the financial aid process in order to better serve their clients.

Chapter Ten: Less Taxing Matters
An overview on how changes in tax laws (and other laws) have affected the financial aid process and saving for college this year. There’s some good news and some bad news here, as well as some things that are phasing out.

Chapter Eleven: Looking for a Financial Aid Consulting Service
If you’ve decided this is all more than you want to deal with, this chapter will take you through how to find and choose a consultant, including what questions to ask a professional before you pay for advice.

Chapter Twelve: Future Trends
More of a chapter of interest than useful information. Although, if you’re a parent of a young child, these changes will be important to you in the coming years.

Part Five: Worksheets and Forms
Yep, it’s worksheets, forms, and a glossary. And you’re done!

Recommendations by Age Group

Is this just a book for snobby rich parents to avoid draining the trust fund in order to pay for their rich kids’ college educations? No. Reading this book, I see several things that I could have done over the past fives years to lessen my loan burden and make the whole process easier on myself. Colleges do not always meet you halfway, even when you’ve demonstrated extraordinary need. I could have benefited from this book (or one like it) at the beginning of my college career.

High school: Although most of the information here is targeted at parents, you could benefit a lot from this book. Like I said earlier, you can benefit the most if you can get your parents to read it as well, and get them to act on the information in it. Highly recommended.

College: If you read this book, you may feel like the ship has sailed on a lot of what you could have done to make college cheaper. But there’s still time, and if you’re struggling or concerned about the amount of debt you’re taking on, this book is well worth a read (again, even more so if you can get your parents involved). Recommended.

20-something: Unless you’re already thinking about college for Junior, there’s not much here for you, but you probably already knew that. Not necessarily recommended.

20-something or older with young children: The part you find relevant in this book is short compared to the whole, but useful. This probably shouldn’t be the only book you read about saving for college, but there’s certainly some good information to pick out of chapter two, and maybe even chapter three. Recommended.

Parents of high school students: Get this book and read it right now. The sooner, the better. Highly recommended.